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Notes -
Apologies if this is too culture war-y
If I told you that public servants in a Western country were forced (by social pressure) to pray at the beginning of meetings, what kind of prayers do you think they were and what side of the political spectrum would the social pressure come from?
In the US context, one would assume I was referring to right-wing Christianity, but here in New Zealand it is becoming more and more expected to pray in Maori before meetings. Many of these prayers refer to Jesus or the Christian god, or the pre-contact Maori deities.
The stranger part to US ears (perhaps) is that this is mainly pushed by the more left/woke type of people. While I know that other Anglo countries do like to integrate indigenous spirituality into land acknowledgements etc, I believe only the NZ public service has gone out to this extent.
Since land acknowledgements have already spread around the Anglo world, I wonder if this forced spirituality will also spread. Certainly Australians I have spoken to (at least liberal Australians) talk about the integration of indigenous spirituality as a desirable outcome.
The US had this fight over prayer in schools, etc. It was thoroughly resolved in favor of separating church and state.
I'd be truly shocked to see it happen again on a larger-than-county scale. Both teams are hypersensitive to the topic, or were 20 years ago.
But then again, I have yet to witness a land acknowledgment in person, despite attending school in Oklahoma. So perhaps I don't have any perspective for what people are willing to do.
It is already happening. Just quietly enough for the people claiming it's not happening to switch to "and it was good" before they're ever confronted about it.
I don't follow.
Is that supposed to refer to me? Because I'm firmly disestablishmentarian, with no intention of switching.
Where is this already happening?
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